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March 2018

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Five of New Zealand's largest corporates are working together to find new ways to reuse employee uniforms and reduce textile waste, the website scoop.co.nz has reported.

Air New Zealand, Fonterra, New Zealand Post, Skycity Auckland and The Warehouse Group have set up a working group to look at what to do with old uniforms that have been replaced. Collectively these organisations produce more than 60,000 uniforms every year, presenting an opportunity to establish an environmentally and commercially sustainable business solution.

The Formary, which is expert in textile fibre recovery and re-engineering, is working with the five organisations and leading the project. The Formary's founder Bernadette Casey said technical challenges are often difficult to solve in isolation and the business partnership is a good idea.

“These companies are leading the way in solving what has been a largely ignored problem - growing textile waste. It's hugely exciting to be involved in discovering new ways to extract the greatest value from garments, in a collaborative way,” said Ms Casey. "This involves deconstructing the garments and re-processing the fibres into a range of new products. We'll be looking to work with New Zealand companies with the capability to do this."

“We want to create a step change in reusing textile waste,” says Dawn Baggaley, Corporate Sustainability Manager at New Zealand Post. “We've been working on this problem for some time and knew other corporates were too, so reached out to them to initiate this project. We're fortunate to be working with an innovative group of businesses who are all interested in the environmental impacts of their operations. There's real leadership and commitment amongst the group.”

The group aims to complete the research and identify solutions later this year. (SH)